Arrow of Apollo
by Gr4Yr4iN
Summary: I'm not a hero. I'm the son of the least warlike god. And I'm burdened with joining the two camps together; Because I'm from both of them. Rated T just for safety.
1. Arrow 1

**A/N: First fanfic done for a book series. Go easy on me.**

* * *

It was night and it was cold. The clouds I exhaled with every breath made it pretty obvious. And that's bad. Night time was very unlucky for me, emphasis on the very here. The cold wasn't really helping me cope with my luck, and I had the feeling my luck was going to run out soon.

For one, night time is bad for children of the sun. Having no light around slowly drains our strength away. In my case it was draining me ridiculously quick because I was on the run. Another point of bad luck: I was being chased through the woods by a hell-hound. Night time was as good for it as much as it was bad for me. What made this particular night worse was the fact there was no moon in the sky.

Reaching for my scabbard I remembered I left it back at camp. I was starting to hate my luck. Maybe it was my fate to die running for my life in the middle of the night.

My only other hope was to use my arrows but they were back at camp too. I cursed and dared a look back. There wasn't much distance between us, and it was covering about twenty metres every time it leapt. I knew it was only a matter of time before it caught up.

My mind kept racing to think of something, anything, that could keep me alive somehow. I guess it didn't really work unless you were a child of Athena, but I gave my best shot. And then something sparked. I always had my iPod with me. That meant I had my earphones too. I mentally slapped my head for not thinking about it all this time.

The god of the sun is Apollo. He is also the god of art, light, music – pretty much anything creative – which made complete use of the right side of the brain. I always knew my right side was lucky, it just didn't quite hit me so hard until now. Now all I needed was something to buy me enough time to get my iPod out, untangle the cord of my earphones and get my discs. Yeah, my signature weapon were discs. If you weren't a son of Apollo, you wouldn't know how much one could do with them. For example, if they were made of metal, they would conduct heat and sound at a drastic rate. I tried putting that to practice.

I noticed a low tree branch to my right – lucky side – and managed to grab it and swing myself onto it. I tried not to waste any time untangling the cord but the hound caught up just when I thought Fortuna was going to smile on me. I managed to get my earphones out just in time. I clapped my hands with them in between and when I pulled away there was a wedged disc the size of a frisbee in each of my hands.

The hound jumped up and head-butted the branch shaking it and throwing me off balance. I almost fell but I put one of my discs under my feet and slid down the other side of the tree. The hound noticed me too late and it got hit by my other disc square in its muzzle. It didn't help make the situation any better because now it had fire in its eyes. Literally.

The disc I threw at it came back to me like a boomerang and I made a run towards Camp Half-Blood while the hound recovered. It recovered way sooner than I expected. It closed the distance between us in a matter of seconds and was almost right behind me. I thought about putting one of my other theories to practice. _Heat_. I started spinning a disc on my hand and made it scratch the flat of the other one. It began to gather heat and when my hands couldn't hold it any more I threw it at the hound. It got hit on the muzzle again and it let out a whine as it stopped and shook its head. I kept running towards camp. I reached a hand back just in time to catch the disc.

The camp was a few yards away when I heard the hound behind me again. My legs were killing me. My body felt like it was going to shut down any moment but I knew I couldn't give in. I still had another theory to test. _Sound_.

I stopped running and turned fully around. The hound was coming straight at me, its mouth foaming and eyes alight. When I figured it was close enough I brought the two discs together like a pair of cymbals. My ears felt like they were on fire but I chose to ignore that. The sound waves they created visibly rippled across in every direction causing a little tremor. It took some effort for me to divert most of the waves towards the hound but a few of the waves found their way to camp. I mentally slapped myself.

The waves were strong enough to push the hound back a fair bit of distance and slightly levitate it off the ground. The last wave to hit it threw it on its side. This bought me enough time to run through the camp gate and get into camp. The glow of light from the torches around the entrance seemed to revitalise bits of my energy.

"Arrow!" I heard a familiar voice say before I managed to get to my cabin. I rotated the flats of my discs behind my back and they turned back into earphones. I quickly shoved them in my pockets. I was met with a boy the same age as me with clean swept blond hair. His storm grey eyes, a symbol all children of Athena bore to prove their birthright, were brimming with concern and relief when he saw me. "Where were you for the last hour? We couldn't find find you anywhere."

"Don't worry, Max", I said and patted his back. "I'm alright. I just had a mishap with Mrs O'Leary."

As if on cue Mrs O'Leary, the camp's guard hell-hound, came in through the camp entrance and growled at me. I glared at her before turning back to Max. I noticed something shiny on his arm and smiled. "Cool watch, man. What's the time?" I asked him.

Max checked his shiny celestial bronze wristwatch. His eyes widened as he tugged my shirt and said, "Oh, crap, we're gonna be late for the camp-fire. Come on!"

He ran off in a direction where the smoke of the camp-fire could be seen from a distance. I stayed in the light until I felt my legs get stronger, then ran after him. The camp-fire was alight and burning bright in the middle of a circle full of kids of different ages. I looked for Max and saw that he was already in place among his half-brothers and -sisters; the children of Athena, all with grey eyes that mirrored the orange of the camp-fire. He gave me a thumbs-up. I responded with the same gesture and made my way to where my half-siblings were sitting. The twins, blond Duke and brunet Mike, shuffled away from each other and nodded at me to sit between them where I always sat if I was at camp. Ours spots weren't assigned to us but we always sat where we did because it felt right. I didn't feel so right because every camp-fire night everyone from every cabin had to gather around the fire. I was a loner so being in groups of more than four or five people always made me feel out of place, and being in the cabin holding the record of being second most populous didn't make me feel any better. I felt even more so here because I stood out as the only dark-skinned and -haired kid among dozens of fair-skinned kids who were fathered by the same god as me. And if being a black son of a white dad wasn't bad enough, I was the only kid in the Apollo cabin to have to wear glasses. Why is that bad? Well, having the ability to manipulate light, one would expect a child of Apollo not to get visually impaired from looking at his father's chariot in the sky.

Noticing my frown Duke patted my back and smiled me. "Cheer up, buddy", said Mike and smiled at me. I couldn't help smiling back. At that moment, the whole camp suddenly quietened down. I held a finger up to my lips and the twins fell silent. We looked ahead as a centaur, a half-man half-white stallion creature, came in through the opening. His name was Chiron, yeah the same one that trained and taught my ancestor Asclepius to be the best medic in the world, but now activities director of camp.

"Demigods, how are we tonight?" he asked all of us. A chorus of 'good' went up from the Athena, Ares and Hephaestus cabins. A chorus of 'awesome' rose from the rest of us.

"Tonight is a special night kids", he continued with a grin. "Does anyone know what?"

Max smiled before yelling out, "Is it Annabeth's birthday?" He received laughs from the other cabins and a death glare from one of the older girls from his cabin, who I guessed as Annabeth. I couldn't tell properly because of my freaking sight. I won't lie; she was crush material, with her awesome blonde hair and grey eyes. The only thing that made her stand out was her fringe. It was a thick streak of light silver that made her look older somehow. She didn't like talking about it though. She kicked Duke's butt for asking her about that. She's always had my respect since then.

"No it's not my birthday", she said bitterly before turning to Chiron. "It's Percy's birthday."

The camp fire turned a ghostly shade of blue and decreased to the size of a small soccer ball. Nobody seemed too happy about hearing his name. I can't blame them, though. I felt kinda bad for the guy too. It's been three weeks since he disappeared. He just vanished without a trace. Grover, a camp satyr and one of Percy Jackson's best friends, knew he wasn't dead. He had an empathy link with Percy. He said it was like they were connected by some unseen thread, and if it was severed in any way they'd both die. So the news of him being alive worried him, and us, even more.

Chiron nodded gravely. He looked in the direction of the Poseidon cabin. Only one kid sat there but he took up three seats with his massive body. Even with my poor vision I could see his one massive baby eye in the middle of his forehead brimming up with tears. When Chiron made eye contact with him he burst into tears and hid his face in his massive hands.

"Yes, Annabeth, it's Percy's birthday" Chiron said with the saddest tone I've ever heard from him. He was a strong guy – horse guy? – but he couldn't help his voice from cracking up. Percy was his best student and we all knew that. "Tyson", he continued, "has been assigned to look for him. Annabeth, I would like you to go with him. You may consider this as a quest, though there will be no glory at the end. Honour, yes, to those who wish to join them, but I can't promise anything yet. I do not know of the dangers you may face or the choices you will have to make. But our Oracle..." he paused as if this was something he shouldn't say, "...the Oracle may have the answers should you choose to consult _her_."

I lost any sort of concentration I had on his speech after that. The last thing I remembered of the night was that I went to hang around the waters near Long Island South. Even with it being a moonless night, the water off the bank reflected the camp fire, which was bright orange again, making the lake look it was made of fire. I never got why, but my eyes always worked better than usual, with my glasses or no, in the darkness. I never liked the sun much, being the reason for the state of my eyes, but I couldn't hate it either. It was the only thing that made me feel like I had a father, and that he was there even though I couldn't look at him. I still remember that day when I was five.

* * *

_It was on one of the days of my mother's performances. She was an amazing singer, possibly the best in the whole of the northern hemisphere. She had this voice that sounded like honey, just a thousand times sweeter and more natural. Her face was just as pleasant. Her skin was the colour of honey in milk, and in the spotlight it looked like glowing bronze._

_The performance took place in an open place. I think it was a park, I don't remember too much. She took me with her because she considered me her lucky charm. I found it odd because she wore lucky charms all over her neck and wrists, but I didn't have the heart to tell her that. I sat up front with my aunt Shai, who I couldn't stand. She was the complete opposite of my mother, physically and inside. My mother was healthy and had a kind face with beautiful brown eyes and a bright smile. Aunt Shai was deathly skinny and pale and had one of those faces that look nice at first but then begin to scare you. Her eyes were hooded and a pale shade of a colour between brown and yellow, like – excuse my French – faeces. Applying make-up to her face did nothing to hide her ugly crooked smile._

_Her performance was only an hour long so I didn't have to sit with her that long. She was at least nice enough to sit me on her lap to help see my mother better. At least that's what I thought anyway. She tipped the glass of water that she was holding and spilled half of the contents on my pants. Her kid, Shirin, was right beside me and she laughed her head off._

_Aunt Shai told her to take me to the public toilet and bought me a fresh pair of shorts. How that five year old knew her way around the place, I will never know, but she guided me to a row of portable toilets on the edge of the place, far away from the stage, but close enough to hear my mother's beautiful voice. On the way there she never stopped laughing at my crotch. I swear, if she was a dude, I would've punched her face in. I tried to ignore her the best I could._

_After I was done changing and came out, Shirin was nowhere to be seen. I looked around for her for a couple of minutes and was about to return to the performance when Shirin came out from behind one of the portables and tackled me to the floor. I had the wind knocked out of me and tried to scream but her hand was pushing hard on my chest. The next thing I knew was that I had the sun in my eyes. I looked away from the sun, but I saw something out of the corner of my eyes that I remember more than anything that day: the sun had a face, though very undistinguishable in the light, and it was smiling at me. My eyes focused on the sun and even though they hurt, I couldn't look away. I felt Shirin laugh and hit me on the face. I kept my gaze fixed on the sun. A beam of sunlight bounced off a passing car. Somehow the light bent direction as if it had hit an invisible mirror. The light flashed directly into Shirin's eyes and she raised her hand off my chest to block the beam. Feeling my breath back I screamed. Shirin got off me and ran away. I tried getting up but my chest hurt too bad so I stayed down. Slowly, everything turned black._

_The next thing I know is that I woke up to my mother calling my name. "Teer?" she was saying, "_beta_, be alright. Please, be alright. Teer?" I opened my eyes but what I saw scared me. Everything was so blurry I couldn't even make out shapes. I felt hands lift my face up and get lost in a tight hug. Then someone put glasses on my face and the first face I saw was Aunt Shai's, grinning her crooked teeth at me. I looked around for my mother and almost cried when I saw her._

_Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. With the whole room and Aunt Shai being white, mother looked like the only source of colour in the room. For a moment everything slowed down and we just looked at each other, knowing we were both crying inside but not showing it. Then that moment ended when two men in white coats came into the room and led her away. Aunt Shai told me not to worry and stroked my hair until I fell asleep._

* * *

I shook my head. My head was spinning so I sat down.

Yeah, my memory can reach that far. Having total control over the right side of my head left the left side pretty empty. Creating things, yes I can do. Analysing things, not at all. Leaving so much space free, my memories had enough space to allocate and accommodate themselves. I had this really stupid mixed feeling about the fact that I got only the physical gifts from my father and not the other cool stuff.

Lost in thought I didn't hear Max come in behind me. I got the crap scared out of me when he breathed on my shoulder and said, "I come for your brain!" I almost skewered him with my _pilum_. When he saw the weapon he backed away and almost ran away but thought better of it. He just came and sat beside me. "Why do you have a Roman weapon?"

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**A/N: Yeah, not so proud of it myself. Anyway, if you like it, leave a review.**

**P.S: If you missed the details this is a bit after the _The Last Olympian_ and before _The Lost Hero_.**


	2. Arrow 2

I tried thinking of something to say but I couldn't. I rotated the _pilum_ and it shrank into a toothpick, which I locked between my teeth. We sat there in silence for a long moment.

The water nymphs were playing in the water a few yards in front of us. They were all pretty and slender girls, all of them having something blue. I think one of them had blue hair. It was hard to tell in the orange glow of the camp fire. They were splashing water at each other and giggling like preschoolers. One of them saw us and pointed us out to the others . After talking among themselves they giggled and waved at us. I couldn't help but wave back. I saw Max wink at them and mimic a telephone with his hands near an ear and mouth the words 'call me' out the corner of my eye. I broke the silence with a laugh.

The nymphs waved and giggled at us a couple more times then swam away. "Why didn't you tell on me?" I asked Max when the nymphs were gone.

Max tore a clump of grass from the ground and began to fiddle with it. I didn't tell him but I thought that's what children of Hephaestus do. Or unless...

He twirled them around and round his fingers and when he pulled away he held a wristband made of grass. "Did you want me to?" he asked back when he was finished admiring his wristband.

"No, man", I said and fiddled with my toothpick. "I didn't mean it that way. I just expected you to but, you know. Would you really have done it?"

"That would be the logical thing to do", said Max with a smile, "but then there are these factors that kind of defy that logic. I trust you, man. I'm pretty sure you beat a stupid Roman up and stole his spear."

"What if I told you that wasn't it?" I asked in a whisper. If my voice wasn't so eerily serious I'm sure Max would've laughed. He just stared at me. His face looked so foreign to me without that playful on his face. In the darkness he looked he wanted to kill me right there.

"I don't get it", he said and let out an annoyed sigh. "I usually get it but I'm not getting this. What do you mean, exactly, by 'if that wasn't it'?"

"I'm saying what if that's just not it", I said. I felt scared to meet his eyes now. I knew he would figure it out sooner or later without me telling him. I didn't know how long.

Max tapped his forehead and his eyes widened. "You killed a Roman to get it?" he said in a whisper. "I thought Chiron taught us never to hurt other demigods badly. I though he taught us not to –"

"I didn't kill anyone", I cut in on him. "You know I couldn't. I'm literally incapable of even bruising anyone. Have you looked at my muscles?" I showed him by biceps which didn't tense at all when I tensed my arm. He reanimated his smile on his face.

"So you just found it?" he smiled at me. I smiled back and looked at the water. I thought I saw a nymph waving at me so I waved at her. Max followed my eyes and frowned. "You know she's not waving at you, right? She's drowning."

I didn't need to be told twice. I got my earphones out and clapped my hands with them in between. As soon as they turned into discs I jumped off the edge. I put one disc under my foot to help me slide down the side, holding the other one at an angle so that it would caught the firelight. I bent the reflected beam so it shone directly onto the person. I didn't think to look at her. I just picked her up and put her on the disc I wasn't riding and carried her onshore. Max was standing on the edge of the water by the time I got her away from the deep waters. He helped me carry her further in and lay her down. By some miracle she didn't faint but she coughed up so much water it scared me a bit. She tried sitting up but slipped on her hands and fell back again. I tried supporting her to sit up but she pushed me away. Max reached a hand out to her and she took it and sat up. Sure, take the guy's hand who just stood there while I saved you. Thanks.

"We need to get you dry", said Max. The girl tried to reply but all that came out was a hoarse cough. After trying to say something and coughing again she just nodded. That's when I first got a look at her. She was almost my height. She had black hair that went heavily down her shoulders and back and clung onto her wet camp shirt. Her face looked terrible, like she had caught a cold or flu. Her green eyes were the only bright thing about her face, but even they looked terrible from her frown. She almost looked menacing in the firelight, but she looked too frail and sick to actually be menacing.

I supported one of her arms when I realized she was trying to stand up. Max supported her on the other side. She shakily stood up. I could tell she was going to get a fever soon. She was shivering. "We need to get you to Apollo's cabin", Max and I said at the same time an laughed.

We took the long route across the camp fire. The camp fire was in the lower centre of a curved row of cabins shaped into a horseshoe. My cabin was Apollo's cabin which was seventh from the first topmost cabin. Each cabin had their own distinguishable features that made them unique. You could tell the first cabin was Zeus' cabin with all the clouds and thunderbolt patterns all over. The second one was Hera's, though I didn't really get why she needed one as she had no demigod children. The third one was obviously Poseidon's with all the seashells on the walls. The third one was Demeter's cabin which was covered in leaves and vines. The fifth was no doubt Ares' cabin with the horrible red paint job and the barbed wire on the roof. The sixth one was Max's mom's, and I thought it was one of the coolest, with a simple white paint job that made it look the most civil. The seventh one was mine, or Apollo's cabin, which was the second largest cabin there and looked like it was painted bright golden in the firelight. The next one was Artemis' cabin, with a silver paint job that seemed to glow in the dark, which had no demigods either. The ninth was Hephaestus' cabin, which looked like a small factory with smokestacks sticking out and thick brick walls. The next one was the most close-to-perfect looking cabin that I liked the least, which was Aphrodite's. The one after that was the largest cabin in camp, Hermes' cabin, with everybody still awake who were apparently having pillow fights according to their silhouettes through the windows. Cabin twelve was Mr D's cabin, which looked almost like Demeter's, but had bin bags full of coke cans and bottles outside the door. The next cabin looked the most depressing of all, being Hades', with black obsidian walls and torches by the door that burned with green fire 24/7. Cabin fourteen was Iris's cabin, which had bright painted walls and a 3-D rainbow arched over the door. The next one was Hypnos's cabin, and it made you sleepy just by looking at it, with simple mud walls and roof. The next one was probably Nemesis's cabin as it had a miniature version of her balancing scales over the door. The next one was Nike's cabin, with a massive tick sign painted on the door. The one after that was a cabin that looked like it was made of made of bronze and flowers, probably Hebe's. Cabin nineteen looked like it was a good luck charm, probably Tyche's, with lockets hanging of the roof and a four-leafed clover on the door. The last cabin that ended the horseshoe was Hecate's cabin with Ancient Greek writing scribbled all over the rough stone walls.

When I reached my cabin Max let the girl go and left to go to his cabin. Supporting her by myself was hard but I managed to get her into cabin seven. As soon as I entered everyone stared at her. She looked at me then them and let out a weak laugh. Yeah, I would too. Behold, my brothers and sisters, who are so much better-looking than me. Will Solace, the oldest, tallest and best-looking dude in the cabin, who also happened to be the cabin councillor, came up to us and asked me, "What happened?"

"Long story", I said quickly, not wanting to waste time, "She needs help. I was hoping Mike or Duke could heal her with songs."

Will nodded and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. His palm glowed over her shirt. In a matter of seconds her clothes were dry, as if someone went over it with an invisible iron. One of the girls in the cabin came up with a towel and started to dry her off. I looked at Mike and Duke who were looking at the girl like she was the most amazing in the world. I snapped my fingers in front of their faces and they stopped gaping at her. "Where'd you score her, bro?" said Mike. He got a grin from Duke and they locked fists and laughed.

"That's for me to know and you to guess", I said. "Now, which one of you is going to heal her." I almost felt bad to ask them for the favour but they both got up and raced to her. Remember when I said I wanted the other cool powers? Vitakinesis was one of them. I didn't have the power to heal, which Mike and Duke both had, but they worked differently. In order for Mike's songs to work he needed to be bleeding, and the blood needed to drop on the one he was healing. For Duke's to work, the one he had to heal needed to be bleeding.

Mike got to her first and held a hand between him and Duke so the latter couldn't get to her. He led her to one of the girl's bunker beds. She collapsed immediately and blinked like it hurt. Mike sat at her side and solemnly began chanting something. His voice sounded so different when he sang, it almost scared me. He stopped for a second and moved a hand over her face as if to check if she was breathing. While he did so he quickly bit one of his fingers and let a single drop of blood fall onto her body. Her body absorbed it like a sponge and by the time he was finished chanting she was asleep and breathing steadily.

I just watched like a voyeur. When Will made sure she was okay I lay back and soon drifted off to sleep.

The next morning at breakfast I saw her among the Hermes kids. I almost thought she was one of Hermes' daughters but then noticed how lost she looked among the other kids. After breakfast I was free because it was time to learn Ancient Greek with Annabeth and I was terrible at learning. Also, I couldn't stop staring at Annabeth on the first day there so I got a free expulsion out of her class. Usually at this time of the day, I go back to our cabin and catch a few extra Z's or play my broken guitar. But for some reason, I felt like going to the Arts and Crafts building.

On the way there saw the girl sitting alone on a rock. I don't know why but I went over and talked to her. When she saw me coming she came to meet me. Before I could say hi, she said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" was all I could think of saying.

"For all the trouble last night", she said then came closer and raised an arm. I thought she was going to hit me so I tried to step back but tripped on some rocks and fell. When I looked up I saw her hand reaching out for a handshake. She offered me a hand, but I got up on my own before she could reach for me. I felt bad so I said sorry.

"Liri", she said. I looked at her. "Sorry?"

"My name", she said, "My name is Liri. Well, actually, It's Liriana but hardly anyone calls me that." She reached a hand out. I took it and shook it.

"I'm Arrow", I told her. "At least that's what my name translates to from Indian."

"Cool", she said, "I mean nice to meet you. And thank you."

I looked at her. "For what?"

"For saving me last night. And I'm sorry I laughed at you. I really hope you don't mind."

"It's really alright", I said and laughed gently. "So how's the cabin treating you?"

"Not too bad", she shrugged. "I just feel like I don't fit in. I don't know who my father is, but I'm pretty sure it's not Hermes."

We had petty conversation for most of the free time that day. I felt good talking to her, like she was a friend. Mike and Duke were my half-brothers so I couldn't call them friends. Max was my best friend at camp, and he always had been ever since we got to camp. He was the person who looked happy the day I was claimed as a son of Apollo. Everyone else had laughed but Max made me feel better.

From our conversations we got to know each other a bit better. She told me she discovered she was a demigod when she accidentally drowned an _Ó__rnio,_ a vulture-like monster that had got into her bedroom somehow, in the bathtub. She had run away from home when her mother got scared of her killing other animals, as she probably thought she just drowned a normal sparrow or some other bird. She had been running from monsters for the last two days and got into camp through a tear in the fence of the property line. She had fallen into the water by accident when she got her foot stuck in some stray tree roots and fell in when she got it free. She told me she asked other people to help her but they just laughed saying there was no monster chasing her. Apparently it was one of the stray hell-hounds, or at least what it sounded like from her description.

Somewhere along the way she began to ask me questions, and most of the ones I didn't want to answer too. Luckily for me Max came in at the right time and we walked off past the beach talking together. He befriended Liri much quicker than I had. I felt jealous of Max for being able to make friends so easily, but I couldn't help being happy for him too. At least he was there for me when I had runaway from home. He helped me get to camp safely with the help of one of his Satyr friends. We had been friends like Castor was with Pollux. Now I had one more person I could call a friend.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter done. Sorry if it was a bit boring, I just wanted to expand on everything. I'm guessing longer chapters are propably not the best choice for me, but I'll try harder.**


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